Detective Conan And at the Fringes of Darkness
by NathanHale2
Summary: Twelve years have passed since the event on Tropical Island and Conan formerly known as Shinichi, changed alot. For good and ill. Living with the consequences of a terrible deed he had done ten years ago, Conan gets an invitation to an Reality Tv Show starring the greatest High school detectives in the country. But a threat lurks in the shadows threating everything he holds dear.


Detective Conan

And at the fringes of Darkness

In the land of the rising sun, the sun rose upwards spreading warm and alive colors over the slumbering metropolis. The bright glimmering glass towers, breaching the skies, radiate in ethereal light, the city by the name Tokyo steadily arose from its sleep to another busy day.

Lives began anew. Lives continued on and lives ended on this very day, in this very moment. Time moved on. Uncaring for some individuals suffering, or losses they had to endure. Time never stops or gives someone the chance to go back to 'make things right'. Lives move on with the choices we make whether we like them or not. To successfully endure, to get up over and over again is one of the most important things that defies us, that makes us who we are.

And just like it always does as a new day dawned at the horizon the city began to spring into live.

Alarm clocks all around town rung, beeped or howled the poor person awake and were shattered, smashed, thrown across the bedroom or lazily shut down by their groggily awaking people, like one Conan Edogawa or as he was once known, Shinichi Kudo.

Lying outstretched in a weird angle one could only manage after a particular rough night -or if you were Conan Edogawa-, with each leg spread to one end of the bed and his back twisted, the blanket half thrown, half warped around his body.

Conan tiredly rubbed his eyes in an effort to pry them open and begin the new day. A loud sluggish yawn forced its way through his mouth as once again the alarm clock started to ring its incredibly annoying and torturous screeching tone. Immediately Conan's face darkened considerably and in the blink of an eye his right hand shot out of the covers and slammed onto the metallic alarm clock with enough force to seemingly shatter it into millions of pieces. But the pestering, wrath filling, screeching noise continued unfettered but was soon silenced forever as it flew all across the room and violently sprung apart into thousands of tiny bits and pieces, giving out one last, pitiful noise, like from a being questioning their death at the hands of their masters, before ceasing its work once and for all.

Spatting out a few choice words, Conan untangled himself from his self made bindings and weakly climbed out of bed. Out of instinct one of his hands ran through his dark brown hair in a futile attempt to somewhat tame it as he carefully, still sleep drunk, swung from one side to the other, into the personal bathroom.

Cold water rushed through the steel pipes and into the Conan's waiting hands. Suppressing a shiver as the ice cold water touched his hands, Conan let the water fill his folded hands before clasping them into his face.

As soon as the ice cold water hit his face Conan was jolted awake. All signs of sleep and fatigue gone in an instant. The hair on his neck rose as a cold feeling surged through his entire body taking away all of his sluggishness. Flexing his shoulders Conan scrubbed his face and gazed into the mirror showing the reflection of an eighteen year old boy on his last year before going for university.

His cool, azure blue eyes fixed on something close behind his reflection. A grin appeared on his face as Conan cocked his head slightly to the left, to looked at something close behind him with an penetrating stare, as if he caught someone who had been looking over his shoulder during a class test red handed.

"Thought I haven't noticed you?" Conan asked to seemingly no one, with a voice of sheer incredible confidence and his eyes burning with a fire he has every time he caught culprit. The atmosphere was tense and who ever Conan was speaking to felt the hairs on their necks rising up, sweat building up their forehead and nerves slightly twitching as they felt like an suspect being interrogated by the most feared attorney in the country in-front of an audience.

Conan chuckled and wiped his face with a towel before looking back up and stared back at the same point slightly over his shoulder. "Well it has been a long time hasn't it? Twelve years, twelve long years since that night at the Tropical Land. Still can't believe how fast time progresses. I bet you are currently asking yourselves: Why haven't you returned to your old life? Why are you calling yourself Conan Edogawa instead of your given, rightful name Shinichi Kudo?" Conan questioned keep a knowing gaze at those who are looking over his shoulder.

Conan inhaled deeply before releasing a pained shuddering breath, his hands gripping the towel tightly in between them and mutters "Like I said before, time flies away without us even noticing it."

Roughly, Conan cleaned his hands, brushing his wet hands with the towel. Conan continued his speech, agitated by a fire and driven by a passion of an attorney delivering his final speech to defend his innocent client in-front of a swaying audience "Living in the illusion, of having all the time in the world, only to wake up one morning to find that, everything you have aimed to do, planned to do, what ever visions for the future you have had, have become impossible seemingly overnight. The lesson I have learned is that time is precious. It waits for no one. And is unforgiving to mistakes, you can't reverse it to . . . change certain events, unfortunate choice of words or acts that would deeply mark you and others for life. Once it is done there is no turning back and you have to live with the consequences may they be for good or ill. Some have a better time handling it then others."

Almost violently, Conan shoved the now wet towel back into its place uncaring about properly folding it and raised his left hand dramatically pointing his trigger finger to the heavens above, his other hand on his chest as if he was moments away from pledge his life and honor upon a cause he truly believes with his entire being. "I have lived with the consequence of my deed for a decade. Ten years. Ten long agonizing years I have lived with the consequence of forever burying my true past and life and start anew with pain throbbing in my heart as I hurt many, many persons I hold dear. The Reasons for why I did . . . what I did are my own and I might indulge you into them, but for now, know that I regret none of my past deeds and that I lived my life to the fullest of it's worth and opportunity. And in time I am certain of this, in time I will indulge you of my reasons for choosing my path."

Suddenly a cheeky grin appeared on Conan's face, his eyes shimmering with mischief and he snapped his fingers as if he remembered something important to a case, the final nail to the coffin of the culprit. "After all what kind of author goes into his or her works without having mind all set and planned out to the letter. It is like a good murder. You have a goal, however abstract it may be. You have the target or targets, on whom it will affect and how. And, you have the means on how to do it. All you have to do, is to properly arrange in it a – can you guess it – time."

With one final wink towards the recipient, Conan cracked his neck and left the bathroom to begin a new day, in his new life.

Conan stepped down the staircase two steps at a time and walked down the hallway, grabbing his iconic blue suit jacket in mid stride as he stepped into the kitchen. Standing by the cooking table and cutting fresh carrots was a tall, elegant and strikingly beautiful woman with waist long light brown hair a few gray streaks, beginning from the side of her head. Sliver-ish blue eyes shone brightly filled with life and happiness, successfully hiding the scars of long buried hurts and untold anguish.

Soft, melodic music blurred out of the kitchens radio and warm streams of golden sunlight naturally lightened the room, inadvertently giving the women an outwardly, ethereal beauty. Neither recognized the song that was playing quite fittingly to their surroundings nor did any of the two care. It was a perfect morning for them.

She noticed the enterance of the teenage boy with wild tousled dark brown hair, who stalked straight to the refrigerator. The beautiful woman smiled a radiant smile that could melt the Everest and said "Morning Conan did you sleep well?". The answer she received was a mere disgruntled huff of acknowledgment from Conan who opened the fridge and grabbed a few slices of bread, jam and cheese.

The woman narrowed her eyes at the young man and swiftly scanned the kitchen before letting a mischievous grin crossing her face as she crinkled her nose. Silently she opened the drawer to the exotic spices.

Conan carried his food onto the dinning table and shooting a short glance towards the woman before mutter a low "Morning mom."

The woman, Yukiko Kudo, grinned at her son before spreading out her arms in an over-dramatised motion as she spoke "Finally! At long last my own son acknowledges my presence! A mother's dream come true!"

Conan merely rolled his eyes and smeared a bit of jam upon his slice of bread when suddenly the music coming from the radio stopped and was replaced with iconic intro melody of the morning news. Natural curiosity made Conan turn towards the radio, as every morning he had done to turn up the volume on the radio and keeping out an ear for any new mysteries for him and his friends, the detective boys to solve. A faint whisper of the wind, birds chirping in the background, a shadow of a movement and Conan turned up the volume of the radio to listen to the news.

_Gooooood Morrrrrning Toookyoooo! This is Radio Live 101 Tokyo, with the news FOR THE DAY WOOOHH! The one and ONLY radio channel where you get maximum truth and zero horse dung._

Conan rolled his azure blue eyes at incredibly fast, enthusiastic speaking voice of the city wide legendary Radioman, who has reached some sort of infamous status within the city of Tokyo, for easy going, funny attitude towards almost everything. Brutally honest and almost bulldog like stubbornness has gained a reputation of someone to be feared and reckoned with. Some even whispered behind closed doors that the radioman is as mad as a hatter, having a persona similar to the legendary military radio moderators from the Vietnam war, who tried to encourage motivate the troops by various comical sometimes insensitive jokes and heavy usage of rock 'n roll, jazz and soul music.

_'Apparently people still like this sort of stuff.'_ Conan thought as he began to move to switch channel only for his hand being violently swatted away by a delicate soft, creamy white hand, inches away from the radio. Yelping in sheer utter surprise Conan turned towards the owner of the hand, his own mother and yelled "What the hell mom?! Do you seriously want to listen to a mad mans ramblings instead of proper news?"

His mother huffed and replied "But he IS delivering proper news just has different style of making it public, like me. Somewhat indie and abstract kind of a way to present it instead of the ordinary, dull and ever boring routine that makes me question Einsteins definition of insanity upon everyone person these kind of days..."

_'Alright gotta stop her before she rambles on for hours to come.'_ Conan gently interrupted his mother by planting a finger on her mouth before nodding towards the radio, earning him a narrowed look that froze his very bones courtesy from his mother and continued listening to the news of the crazy radioman.

_Our lovely sweetheart Shizuka Arakawa from Shinagawa Tooookyo has now officially earned the Honorable title of being the radioman's hot kick ass girl of the year, having overcome her opposition and won the GOLD FUCKING MEDAL in the Ladieeeess singles in Turin in the land of the little people. Congrats to you my dear Shizuaka Arakawa from all of Japan but most importantly from you hometown and from charming ole' me so please accept my marriage proposal._

_Moving ON! We have the Toyoko inn case now brought to the court. The warrants are for the violation of building codes and access for disabled people laws blah blaahblahhhh._

That marked the last straw of patience Conan had held for the man has in a movement faster than light switched the radio off ignoring the shouts of protests coming from his mother.

"Oi! I was listening do you have any manners?!" his mother huffed and turned to turn the radio back on evading Conan's quick hands and his plea's "Please Mom he is just awful! Have mercy on my poor soul!" But his pleas were for naught as the radio once again turned to life with the terribly annoying voice of Tokyo's underground radioman bursting through the speakers. Surrendering to his fate, Conan finished preparing his cold breakfast placing the last bits of ham on his sandwich and disinterestedly bit down.

The sweet taste of cheese mixed with the bitterness of ham, finished up by the creamy, warm flavor of jam filled his mouth. His tongue crinkled weirdly but Conan continued to eat. But trying as he might the feeling that something was off, did not leave his mind as now sweat began to appear on his forehead, cheeks and neck. It was getting hotter and hotter as inside his mouth something warm kindled dangerously, slowly, second by second, the taste in his mouth and on his tongue were replaced by an painful feeling at on his tongue.

On the outside Conan tried to hide his growing feeling of discomfort as his face turned redder and redder. Tears sprang into his eyes, as a burning pain shot through his entire mouth and his tongue causing him to cough uncontrollably, oblivious to the devious smirk from his mother as despite the pain and heat, Conan felt his mouth twitch into a pained smile.

"Oh God!" was all Conan could utter out, before leaping towards the sink, spitting out the unfinished food in his mouth into the sink, as literally fire started to come out of his mouth accompanied with dark smoke. Flailing his arms wildly in sheer panic Conan rushed to the fridge and almost ripped its door out of its hinges, grabbed a bottle of milk downed half of it's content in one gulp.

Yukiko couldn't contain her laughter anymore and let the air ring with melodic orchestra of a laughter ring through the air. Conan eyed his mother panting heavily, in an effort to regain his breathing and horesely whispered "You . . . chilly . . . spicy . . . evil."

His mother only covered a laugh in a ladylike cough before lightly slapping him on his arm "You asked for this sweetly. Now hurry up or you'll be late for school, I have finished you a sandwich for the day."

After finishing his coughing fit and getting back somewhat of feeling and taste on his tongue Conan gratefully accepted his breakfast, grabbed his rucksack mumbling a quick "Thanks." to his mother and exited the house.

The sun rose over the small alleyway as Conan lazily walked towards the house of Professor Agasa, going past several expensive houses watching his neighbors activities. Almost all houses were two to three floors tall and either enclosed with white brick walls or tall fences hiding them from plain view or more importantly from envious and curious eyes, searching for easy prey. An elderly man stepping out into his front yard picking up the morning papers and returned to his house for his young mistress who is barely nineteen years old.

Conan narrowed his eyes at the man as he deduced this vile man's persona. _'Sixty years old suffers from arthritis and by the looks of it heart malfunctions. Judging by his weight he has high cholesterol value and doesn't even about his probably short life time. Egomaniac personality, narcissistic world view punctuated by self obsessive disorders. In short: an asshole at work and personal life.'_

After what seemed to be like an eternity Conan at long last reached Agasa's home and eagerly rang the bell patiently waiting for the one person to appear. She was his most dearest friend and possibly the only one who could understand his current predicament. Ai Haibara or as she was once known Shiho Myiano, the scientist responsible for developing APTX 4869. a toxin designed to kill but had the little side effect of de-ageing the target to his or hers childhood years.

For years Conan tried desperately to fight back, somehow reverse the effects this damned thing had on him and once again become Shinichi Kudo. To return to his previous life, to being the Savior of Tokyo's police's force and most importantly back to his Ran. Over eager and blinded by own ideals and goals he blissfully ignored the suffering of his fellow friend. He thought he knew whom he truly cared for and thought that he protected the right people, at the right places.

_'How wrong I was.'_ Conan bit his lip to suppress the coming resurfacing of these painful memories from over ten years ago that changed his life forever and made him to whom he is today. He couldn't let anyone not even her see him like this.

_'Conceal. Lie and put up a happy face. Smile for the camera Shin- Conan. Smile for the world.'_

At the sound of Agasa's front door opening Conan raised his head with a genuine grin on his face as he looked at the person he had waited for. She was at the same height as him, her auburn hair was wavy in a unique natural way and reached the mid of her neck. Perfectly and neatly dressed in her school uniform Ai stepped towards Conan with a cool aura and held herself with an elegance that would make any women glare at her in envy and all the men drool at her attractiveness.

"What's up Irene?" Conan said to her with a grin on his face as he watched Ai making final preparations; checking the locks and the windows before exiting Agasa's house-yard.

Ai coolly rolled her eyes as she took her place by his right side and replied "Good morning to you too corpse magnet. I'm fine thanks for the inquiry, how are you? Have you encountered any murder mysteries that might spark my interest. It has been soooo dull and boring lately are you losing your touch?"

Conan shot the teasing girl a glare and chose not to go into one their legendary wit battles the two of them had every time in the morning since he knew he would lose horribly and he just wasn't in the mood. He just let out sigh and put his hands behind his head as he glanced at Ai before asking "Alright, so what was on the news today mom didn't budge today and just listened to this crazy underground radioman. So please tell me you got something interesting?!"

Ai shrugged equally lazily watching a few little kindergarten kids running around in a playground, playing various different games with each other, all while under the careful hawk like eyes of their respective mothers, fathers and elder siblings.

"Boring as usual, some ships near the Vietnamese border went missing along with quite a few typhoons tormenting that particular area along with Taiwan, Korea, China and -as always hit the hardest- the Philippines. No new murders, yes Conan I know who you feel about it, you can cry if you'd like. You know you shouldn't bottle your disappointment up." Ai said with mischief in her eyes as if she was his personal psychotherapist.

"Don't push it Ai." Conan warned her lightly as they crossed the final road and reached the enterance to the Teitan High School. Conan's gaze lingers on the school, his movement slows almost unnoticeable, but like always does not escape his friends attention as she continues towards the school at a steady pace, to give her friend the space he needs.

The sun shines over the school and Conan feels a nostalgic smile creeping up his face as the voices and people around him grow distant.

_'Feels like a deja vu to me. Can't believe I am here again after almost twelve years. Everyday feels so unreal it is as if nothing has ever happened. No Black Organization. No deaths, pains and suffering that people had to endure. No more hiding in fear and terror. No more cowardice. Look who is talk the greatest coward himself. I still don't have the face to talk to ran and tell her or matter of fact anyone he truth. Even though I see her everyday.'_

"Conan!" At the sweet voice calling his name Conan snapped out of his daze and looked at Ai, who had an impatient expression on her face, tapping her foot in a steady rhythm on the ground. Conan realized that he had spaced out again, which happened quite often recently, almost every year at the exact same time in the year. The terrible nights. The guilt. His grim, tense behavior. It always took at least a few days until Conan was back to his normal self, but during this time of the year his friends and family have learned to watch for the signs and knew exactly what should be done and what should be avoided.

Without a response Conan caught up to Ai and walked through the High Schools enterance blatantly ignoring Ai's worried looks and vanished within the crowd of students like a ghost.

_'Just another day in our new lives.' _Ai thought as she headed to her first lesson with dread in her heart as the teacher they would have would be her again. Shaking her head as a twinge of an unknown and unexplored feeling -which to this very day Ai refused to investigate in any kind- surged through her heart and mind, Ai marched through the crowd with a purpose to another very busy day in their new daily lives.


End file.
